Two new anti-inflammatory trachylobane diterpenoids from Euphorbia atoto.

Two new rare trachylobane euphoratones A-B (1-2), together with five known diterpenoids (compounds 3-7), were isolated from the aerial parts of Euphorbia atoto. Their structures were unambiguously elucidated through HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis. Compounds 1, 3, 4 and 7 showed weak anti-inflammatory activities (IC50 77.49 ± 6.34, 41.61 ± 14.49, 16.00 ± 1.71 and 33.41 ± 4.52 µM, respectively), compared to the positive control quercetin (IC50 15.23 ± 0.65 µM).

Flow cytometic analysis of Penaeus monodon haemocyte responses to poly I:C.

This study was aimed at investigating the cellular responses of Penaeus monodon haemocytes to poly I:C stimulation using flow cytometric assay. Total haemocyte count (THC), percentages of different haemocyte subpopulations [hyaline cells (HC), semigranular cells (SGC) and granular cells (GC)], non-specific esterase activity (EA), total reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) production, nitric oxide (NO) production, apoptotic haemocyte ratio and plasmic phenoloxidase (PO) activity were determined in poly I:C-injected shrimp. Results showed that poly I:C at a low dose (5 µg shrimp-1) caused obvious increases in THC, GC proportion, ROS/RNS production and NO production, but had no significant effect on EA, apoptosis and PO activity. In the early stage of poly I:C injection at a high dose (20 µg shrimp-1), THC and GC proportion improvements could also be observed, suggesting that GC might be induced to release from hemocytopoietic or other tissues to participate in immune response, and this subpopulation might be the main cell type involved in the cellular defence against virus. In the later period, proportions of both GC and SGC reduced paralleled by THC reduction, indicating that depletion of GC and SGC was mainly contributed to the reduced count of circulating haemocyte. Obvious increases in ROS/RNS production and NO production were induced in haemocyte of shrimp under a high dose of poly I:C stimulation, but only slight rise of EA and suppression of PO activity could be observed in poly I:C-stimulated shrimp, suggesting that ROS/RNS-dependent system was vital in the immune defence of shrimp against virus. On the other hand, increase of apoptotic haemocyte ratio and THC reduction were presented after the drastic increases of ROS/RNS and NO productions, implying that the stimulated ROS/RNS might be excess and harmful, and was the major factor for the haemocyte apoptosis and depletion. THC recovered after 48 h injection, while haemocyte apoptosis also returned to the control level, suggesting that apoptosis might be contributed to eliminate damaged, weak or infected haemocytes to renew the circulating haemocytes, and it could be considered as an important defending strategy against virus.

Identification, Expression, and Functional Analysis of the Fructokinase Gene Family in Cassava.

Fructokinase (FRK) proteins play important roles in catalyzing fructose phosphorylation and participate in the carbohydrate metabolism of storage organs in plants. To investigate the roles of FRKs in cassava tuber root development, seven FRK genes (MeFRK1-7) were identified, and MeFRK1-6 were isolated. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the MeFRK family genes can be divided into α (MeFRK1, 2, 6, 7) and ß (MeFRK3, 4, 5) groups. All the MeFRK proteins have typical conserved regions and substrate binding residues similar to those of the FRKs. The overall predicted three-dimensional structures of MeFRK1-6 were similar, folding into a catalytic domain and a ß-sheet ''lid" region, forming a substrate binding cleft, which contains many residues involved in the binding to fructose. The gene and the predicted three-dimensional structures of MeFRK3 and MeFRK4 were the most similar. MeFRK1-6 displayed different expression patterns across different tissues, including leaves, stems, tuber roots, flowers, and fruits. In tuber roots, the expressions of MeFRK3 and MeFRK4 were much higher compared to those of the other genes. Notably, the expression of MeFRK3 and MeFRK4 as well as the enzymatic activity of FRK were higher at the initial and early expanding tuber stages and were lower at the later expanding and mature tuber stages. The FRK activity of MeFRK3 and MeFRK4 was identified by the functional complementation of triple mutant yeast cells that were unable to phosphorylate either glucose or fructose. The gene expression and enzymatic activity of MeFRK3 and MeFRK4 suggest that they might be the main enzymes in fructose phosphorylation for regulating the formation of tuber roots and starch accumulation at the tuber root initial and expanding stages.

Structure, Expression, and Functional Analysis of the Hexokinase Gene Family in Cassava.

Hexokinase (HXK) proteins play important roles in catalyzing hexose phosphorylation and sugar sensing and signaling. To investigate the roles of HXKs in cassava tuber root development, seven HXK genes (MeHXK1-7) were isolated and analyzed. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that the MeHXK family can be divided into five subfamilies of plant HXKs. MeHXKs were clearly divided into type A (MeHXK1) and type B (MeHXK2-7) based on their N-terminal sequences. MeHXK1-5 all had typical conserved regions and similar protein structures to the HXKs of other plants; while MeHXK6-7 lacked some of the conserved regions. An expression analysis of the MeHXK genes in cassava organs or tissues demonstrated that MeHXK2 is the dominant HXK in all the examined tissues (leaves, stems, fruits, tuber phloems, and tuber xylems). Notably, the expression of MeHXK2 and the enzymatic activity of HXK were higher at the initial and expanding tuber stages, and lower at the mature tuber stage. Furthermore, the HXK activity of MeHXK2 was identified by functional complementation of the HXK-deficient yeast strain YSH7.4-3C (hxk1, hxk2, glk1). The gene expression and enzymatic activity of MeHXK2 suggest that it might be the main enzyme for hexose phosphorylation during cassava tuber root development, which is involved in sucrose metabolism to regulate the accumulation of starch.

Cytotoxic steroids from the stems of Strophanthus divaricatus.

Phytochemical investigation on the stems of Strophanthus divaricatus led to the isolation of four undescribed cardiac glycosides and one undescribed C21 pregnane, together with eleven known steroids. Their structures were elucidated by a comprehensive analysis of HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectra. The absolute configuration of 16 was determined by comparison of the experimental and computed ECD spectra. Compounds 1-13 and 15 displayed potent to significant cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines K562, SGC-7901, A549 and HeLa with IC50 values of 0.02-16.08, 0.04-23.13, 0.06-22.31 and 0.06-15.13 µM, respectively.

Isopentenyl transferase gene (ipt) downstream transcriptionally fused with gene expression improves the growth of transgenic plants.

This research reports a promising approach to increase a plant's physiological cytokinin content. This approach also enables the increase to play a role in plant growth and development by introducing the ipt gene to downstream transcriptionally fuse with other genes under the control of a CaMV35S promoter, in which the ipt gene is far from the 35S promoter. According to Kozak's ribosome screening model, expression of the ipt gene is reduced by the terminal codon of the first gene and the internal untranslated nucleotides between the fused genes. In the transgenic plants pVKH35S-GUS-ipt, pVKH35S-AOC-ipt, and pVKH35S-AtGolS2-ipt, cytokinins were increased only two to threefold, and the plants grew more vigorously than the pVKH35S-AOC or pVKH35S-AtGolS2 transgenic plants lacking the ipt gene. The vigorous growth was reflected in rapid plant growth, a longer flowering period, a greater number of flowers, more seed product, and increased chlorophyll synthesis. The AOC and AtGolS2 genes play a role in a plant's tolerance of salt or cold, respectively. When the ipt gene transcriptionally fuses with AOC or AtGolS2 in the frame of AOC-ipt and AtGolS2-ipt, slight cytokinin increases were obtained in their transgenic plants; furthermore, those increases played a positive role in improvements of plant growth. Notably, an increased cytokinin volume at the physiological level, in concert with AtGolS2 expression, enhances a plant's tolerance to cold.

Embryo and anther regulation of the mabinlin II sweet protein gene in Capparis masaikai Lévl.

Mabinlin II is one of the major sweet proteins stored in the seeds of Capparis masaikai Lévl. Its promoter region (779 bp) located 5' upstream of the mabinlin II gene has been isolated and named as MBL-779 (GenBank accession number, EU014073). This promoter contains two typical TATA box regions and a series of motifs related to seed-specific promoters, such as ACGT motifs, RY motif, napin motif, and G box. The MBL-779 promoter drove GUS gene to transiently express in the embryos of bean, maize, and rice seeds or to constantly express in the embryos and anthers of the transgenic Arabidopsis. The MBL-779 promoter regulated gene expression from approximately the 12th day and peaked on approximately the 16th day after flowering in Arabidopsis. The -300-bp promoter region is a minimal sequence required to functionally regulate gene expression. The CAATs at -325 to -322 bp and -419 to -416 bp and the region at -485 to -770 bp play a role in the quantitative regulation of gene expression. The RY motif, CATGAC, at -117 to -112 bp and the ACGT within the G box (CACGTG) at -126 to -123 bp positively regulate gene expression.

Isolation and Characterization of Ftsz Genes in Cassava.

The filamenting temperature-sensitive Z proteins (FtsZs) play an important role in plastid division. In this study, three FtsZ genes were isolated from the cassava genome, and named MeFtsZ1, MeFtsZ2-1, and MeFtsZ2-2, respectively. Based on phylogeny, the MeFtsZs were classified into two groups (FtsZ1 and FtsZ2). MeFtsZ1 with a putative signal peptide at N-terminal, has six exons, and is classed to FtsZ1 clade. MeFtsZ2-1 and MeFtsZ2-2 without a putative signal peptide, have seven exons, and are classed to FtsZ2 clade. Subcellular localization found that all the three MeFtsZs could locate in chloroplasts and form a ring in chloroplastids. Structure analysis found that all MeFtsZ proteins contain a conserved guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) domain in favor of generate contractile force for cassava plastid division. The expression profiles of MeFtsZ genes by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissues found that all of the MeFtsZ genes had higher expression levels in photosynthetic tissues, especially in younger leaves, and lower expression levels in the non-photosynthetic tissues. During cassava storage root development, the expressions of MeFtsZ2-1 and MeFtsZ2-2 were comparatively higher than MeFtsZ1. The transformed Arabidopsis of MeFtsZ2-1 and MeFtsZ2-2 contained abnormally shape, fewer number, and larger volume chloroplasts. Phytohormones were involved in regulating the expressions of MeFtsZ genes. Therefore, we deduced that all of the MeFtsZs play an important role in chloroplast division, and that MeFtsZ2 (2-1, 2-2) might be involved in amyloplast division and regulated by phytohormones during cassava storage root development.

[The structure and phosphorus or potassium deficiency induced expression of a calmodulin-like protein gene in Arabidopsis].

According to our previous microarray analysis, we found a putative calmodulin gene related to Pi deficiency and designated AtPsiCaM (Arabidopsis Pi-starvation-induced CaM). Results of structural analysis indicate that AtPsiCaM has three conserved EF-hands motif and belongs to calmodulin-like proteins family (Figs. 1-3). Northern blot analysis revealed that this gene could be induced by potassium and phosphate deficiency and not by potassium deficiency or high salinity (Fig. 4). The results of RT-PCR and GUS histochemical staining assays of the AtPsiCaM promoter::GUS transgenic plants showed that this gene can be expressed in all tissues to different expression levels (Figs. 5, 6).

Activation of genes presumed in cytokinin signal pathway of two-component system in response to the increased cytokinin contents in ipt-GUS transgenic Arabidopsis.

The ipt-GUS activated transgenic Arabidopsis had 20-25 fold higher cytokinin contents than the wild type. Changes in cytokinin content in vivo triggering gene expressions involved in signal pathway of two-component system have been analyzed on the day of 6 d, 12 d, 20 d and 30 d after seed cultivation on MS medium in light conditions. The results showed that the two cytokinin receptors, His-kinase CRE1 was more sensitive to the increased cytokinin contents than CKI1. Arabidopsis response regulators, ARR4 and ARR5, were induced by the increased cytokinin contents at different time after seed germination. ARR4 responded to cytokinins at early time of seed germination, especially on the 6 d when seedlings were around true leaf initiation, while cytokinins induced ARR5 activation after 6 d of seed cultivation in light conditions, an obvious increase was on the 20 d when seedlings were around inflorescent shoot initiation. Hpt-type transmitter kinase AHP4 increased its activation by cytokinin induction only between the 20 d and 30 d after seed cultivation in light conditions, and an obvious increase was on the 20 d.

Characterization of enhancer trap and gene trap harboring Ac/Ds transposon in transgenic rice.

Insertion mutagenesis has become one of the most popular methods for gene functions analysis. Here we report a two-element Ac/Ds transposon system containing enhancer trap and gene trap for gene tagging in rice. The excision of Ds element was examined by PCR amplification. The excision frequency of Ds element varied from 0% to 40% among 20 F(2) populations derived from 11 different Ds parents. Southern blot analysis revealed that more than 70% of excised Ds elements reinserted into rice genome and above 70% of the reinserted Ds elements were located at different positions of the chromosome in rice. The result of histochemical GUS analysis indicated that 28% of enhancer trap and 22% of gene trap tagging plants displayed GUS activity in leaves, roots, flowers or seeds. The GUS positive lines will be useful for identifying gene function in rice.

[Application of Ac/Ds transposon system to genetate marker gene free transgenic plants in rice].

It is critical to generate marker gene free transgenic plants for retransformating or eliminating the potential harmfulness of marker gene and its product. In this study, Ac/Ds transposon system was developed for removal of hpt selection marker gene to obtain marker-free transgenic plants in rice ( Oryza sativa L.). Ds element containing the interesting gene bar was constructed next to the selection marker gene hpt to get Ds-T-DNA. Rice plants were transformed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 containing Ac-T-DNA and Ds-T-DNA respectively. Rice plant containing single copy Ac-T-DNA was crossed with plant containing single copy Ds-T-DNA to obtain the F1 plant containing both Ac and Ds elements. F1 plant was self-crossed to produce F2 progeny in which T-DNA insert and transposed Ds element segregated independently. Two plants contained Ds element but no hpt marker gene in total 100 F2 plants. The result indicated that Ac/Ds transposon system could be used as a vector system for generating marker gene free transgenic plants in rice.